Home Is Where You Hold Me
by Snowie-wolfie
Summary: With Rin now gone and Haruka a mess, all Makoto can do is stay by his side. Now the two realize the depth of their feelings. Decided upon officially calling this a one-shot. Please R&R


Home Is Where You Hold Me

 _Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, they belong to their original creator._

 _A/N: I wrote this fluffy piece as a thank you to my friend Kai for drawing an OC of mine. Honestly I can't thank him enough. He has already requested to see more of this story, so keep an eye out! Please R &R, no flames, constructive criticism is appreciated._

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How much time had passed since that particular day, a day that no one dare name the details of because of the pain that welled up from so deep. Even Makoto had given up keeping count. All he did was look forward to the days when he could look into those deep eyes and not see a broken being anymore. Did he hate Rin for what he had done to Haruka? That was a question that not even Makoto had an answer to. It was frustrating and exhausting that not even Makoto could say himself if he was really angry. The best conclusion that he could come to for now, what he really hated, was the hurt that the redhead had left behind. But why was that hurt necessary? Why did this have to happen...? They'd been so happy together, hadn't they? There had been so much life in Haruka's eyes, a genuine smile always gracing his lips whenever Rin was a factor.

With all his heart, and pain settling deep within, Makoto had stayed on as a friend, always wishing that he could be the reason for that heart-breakingly gorgeous smile. But he wouldn't push, he couldn't. Makoto couldn't bring himself to be cruel and forge forward to get what he wanted. If Haruka was happy, if this was what his gorgeous, precious Haru wanted, then he would be the friend that the raven haired boy needed him to be and nothing more. Still even now, even during the rawness of the heart-break, while Haru's world crumbled in and around him, Makoto was still a loyal friend, coming over to visit Haruka ever day. Here he was now again, knocking upon that familiar and worn door. Today there was no answer. Initially Makoto told himself that his friend simply hadn't heard, maybe he was busy. Upon trying again, and still no answer, that was when the darker and much more unsettling thoughts began to take root in his mind.

Without thinking much at all for damages and only playing on the desperate desires of his heart to just know that his beautiful Haru was safe, Makoto curled back a leg and delivered a swift and well placed kick to the door, the wood groaning then crunching and giving way under the force of his strength and need to just know and to prove his own mind wrong. "Haru!" The door had barely swung free of its hinges, smashing into the floor, before the teen was through the doorway, ignoring all manners and household rules as he sprinted down the hallway, his feet carrying him without thought to that one place as the brunette's heart thundered in his chest.

The sight inside the bathroom was one that had Makoto pausing to clutch at his chest and breathe in, hardly noticing that he had been holding his breath. The boy was so relived. There he was, okay... Haru was safe. "You didn't call out, so I..." The student shook off the last of that thought, unable to bring himself to finish it now that he knew his friend was okay. He never wanted to experience that fright again. He saw now that true impact it would have upon his very being if he was to ever lose the other boy. It would destroy him, straight down to his core, eating him away until there was nothing left. Haruka was his whole world... Was this what Haruka was going through now? Was he feeling like a part of him had been stolen away? The other boy had never spoken in detail about what was going on inside his mind. All Makoto had to go off was what he knew of his friend and do the best he could to read him, which was hard enough at any time. After Rin, Haruka had shut himself away even more, seemingly trying to shield himself from more emotional connections.

Haruka looked up from where he sat in the bath, his swimming trunks in place as usual. There was that same look in his eyes, that stolen look. But there was something more there too, something more powerful that had Makoto pausing and hanging on to know as Haruka opened his mouth to speak. "Makoto..." He lifted a hand almost imploringly towards the other boy, moist lips parted and an unspoken need sitting between them. He'd come to a realisation; All that had happened since Rin dumping him and leaving him had helped the swimmer come to a conclusion that he had somehow known all along. Why was he only now acknowledging it? What had he been afraid of? Along with Rin, his fear was gone and Haru was ready to embrace the truth of what lay deep within. A breath was shaken from him as Makoto knelt beside the bath and gently took that wet and trembling hand into his own. That touch was electric. It was as though those fingers against his own were already beginning to breathe their own form of life back into him and strengthening the longer they touched. He whispered the other boy's name again, taking comfort in that single word, the most beautiful word that he knew. Quite quickly, Haruka's gaze became glassy and Makoto blurred. He blinked quickly to banish the building moisture from his vision, not wanting it to spill over. He wasn't really sad, not anymore.

"Makoto... I've been so..." The raven haired swimmer frowned as he struggled with the right way to say this, the words a jumble in his mind as he tried to form them into something really worth saying. He tried again. "I've had you by my side for so long now, almost as long as I can remember. You've always looked out for me, protected me and made sure I was happy. I was so happy when I found... Him. I never looked back to see that you stayed for me. You were always happy because I was, but I... I never saw your unhappiness until now... And now... I truly see my own too..." Haruka knew this was out of character for himself. He was talking so much that even Makoto had been stunned into silence as he listened on, but this has to be said. "You have always made me happy, but not... In the way that I know now we both want..." Those last words were drawn from the boy in a whisper as he looked up at his long time friend with eyes that glistened like the rolling sea. "I love you, Makoto..."

Those softly spoken words shook Makoto down to his core, and for a moment, he couldn't speak, couldn't even attempt to. For one frightening moment, Haruka's face fell into that broken darkness it had been set into after Rin. He had to say something, do something. Long fingered hands cupping pale cheeks, Makoto drew Haruka in for a deep but clumsy kiss, their first kiss. The sweet contact was lightly marred with tears from both the boys, if it were from hurt or happiness, neither could say in that moment. When the kiss was broken, both teens were panting softly, cheeks dusted with a soft blush as they each searched the other's gaze for a truth, a reassurance of what they both now knew. All Makoto needed to do...

"I love you too, Haru." His customary smile that lit up his whole face found its way into place. It was that smile that Haruka had fallen in love with, a smile that could brighten up his whole world on even the darkest of days. It was then that Haruka knew he was really home, and not just where he had a roof over his head. Wherever Makoto was from that day forward would be home. Held safely in his arms, it was paradise.

"I may have broken your front door..." Makoto mumbled lamely, a little embarrassed and blushing at his own over-reaction to the situation.

A shadow of a cheeky grin fluttered over Haruka's expression. "That's okay... I already know how you can pay me back for that..."

And paying him back was how Makoto spent the rest of the day, and several more still to come...


End file.
